Social Media Top 5: I Am Smart and Handsome and My Cat is Adorable

Well, It’s official- Social Media is For Narcissists. That’s according to a study called The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement produced by San Diego State University and Youth Pulse. As far as I can tell, the study is some sort of knock on Genreation Y being self-centered. What about Generation X? I was so self-centered as a youth that I wanted my own label: I was too cool for “X.” Then again, I thought Generation Y was too cool for social networking sites. Maybe that’s just in the UK, in which case I sense a new Mod revival in which virtual beach riots will supplant conventional social networks.

David Meerman Scott is more aligned with my way of thinking; people come to your blog (or Twitter or Facebook or, or, or…) to find out about YOU. Make sure your “about” page is loaded with good info. Yes, it’s about YOU. Even when it’s not. Hmm, I should probably check my about page.

The successful bloggers, influences, or, well, people, do provide value, and think of their readers/audience/friend. But the value they add is in writing about what they know best- themselves, or some part of themselves.

David Meerman Scott is an excellent self-promoter– in fact, that is quite often his topic, and he is among the first people I look to for such knowledge.

Mitch Joel is a brand in demand (and I don’t care if you hate the term “personal brand”). It’s his experience and his passing on that knowledge that makes him valuable.

Chris Penn dresses his extremely useful posts in the language of his life- and that includes comic books, World of Warcraft, and martial arts. He draws lessons from his own interests that we can all learn from.

Me? I can’t write about anything without my own viewpoint. Me, me, me! but that’s what i have to offer. Displaying a little ego (a little folks, it’s like Tabasco sauce you know) is necessary to share things you know. I don’t know a ton, but I want to start conversations, ask questions and share experiences. I can only do that from my own point of reference.

Please people, don’t stop writing about YOU. It’s what YOU know best. If you’re being obnoxious, we will avoid YOU. But I want to know what YOU know, and your blog (or what-have-you) does teach me. Keep it up, you narcissistic egomaniac pigs, you.

I find it humorous that we speak/see self-promotion as a bad thing, yet we all love hearing about celebrities, sports figures, authors, etc… who are – essentially – people who are great at self-promoting.

It may well be about time that we only speak unkindly of self-promotion when there is nothing behind it – meaning people who promote themselves but don’t have the audience/experience/skills to back it up.

After I hit “publish,” I wondered if “self-promoter” was too crude a compliment. But that’s what it is.

Correct, you are your own brand and that’s what you promote. And you are as good and successful at it as anyone I know. what’s more, you share how to do it.

Mitch, you hit it– I just don;t want people to think self-promotion is bad. There are times when it is, but I don;t want people to stop telling us about themselves because they are afraid of being called narcissistic.